Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving method for a photoelectric conversion apparatus, a photoelectric conversion apparatus, and an image pickup system.
Description of the Related Art
It is known that an analog-to-digital (AD) converter is provided for each column of a pixel array in a solid-state image pickup apparatus. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-10787 describes a configuration in which a signal holding switch and a signal holding capacitance directly connected to the AD converter are provided upstream of the AD converter provided in each column of the pixel array. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-10787, a read operation for an analog signal from a pixel, and an AD conversion operation thereof are performed in parallel by turning off the signal holding switch during an AD conversion period for the analog signal held in the signal holding switch, so that high-speed reading can be realized.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-10787 further describes a provision of an amplifier called column amplifier upstream of the signal holding switch.